Bengals need BenJarvus Green-Ellis to stop fumbling

When the Bengals signed running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis as a free agent this offseason, his ball security was often noted as one of his great strengths.

Green-Ellis didn’t fumble at all in his 545 touches as a member of the Patriots and he didn’t fumble in his first two games as a Bengal, but things have trended in the other direction since then. The man they call the Law Firm has fumbled on three of his last 28 touches, a record that has become an issue of concern for both Green-Ellis and the Bengals.

“It’s very uncharacteristic of him. It’s not in his history. It’s not in his DNA. But sometimes they happen,” offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Obviously (running backs) coach (Jim) Anderson’s on him, we’re on him, he’s on himself and hopefully it doesn’t continue. It can’t continue because obviously he’s a feature back. It can’t continue or he won’t be a feature back.”

Gruden also said that he thinks that fumbling can become a mental issue and that he’s confident this will prove to be a fluky moment in time when all is said and done. It looks like the Bengals will get Bernard Scott back from an ankle injury this week, which could mean fewer carries for Green-Ellis while he tries to get a handle on the fumbling and an overall performance that hasn’t been much of an improvement on what the team got from Cedric Benson last season.

I never liked the this pick up. I thought we could have done better with other options at the time. The guy’s numbers were underwhelming last year. The only real attraction was the ball security, now we don’t even have that. There have been some good years for backs (Rudy, Ced) but the Bengals have not had a guy that keeps D Coordinators up at night since Corey Dillon. We certainly don’t have one in 2012.

BenJarvis needs to cut his name in half – Ben Ellis – Jarvis Green – pick a two word combination – your hyphenated name is the most irritating thing short of listening to Phil Simms talk about himself or Troy Barkman call a football game with any intelligence.